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An adaptive multi‐scale approach to the modelling of masonry structures
Author(s) -
Ainsworth Mark,
Mihai L. Angela
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.421
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1097-0207
pISSN - 0029-5981
DOI - 10.1002/nme.2520
Subject(s) - masonry , mesoscopic physics , scale (ratio) , structural engineering , computer science , set (abstract data type) , geology , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
We present an adaptive multi‐scale approach for predicting the mechanical behaviour of masonry structures modelled as dynamic frictional multi‐body contact problems. In this approach, the iterative splitting of the contact problem into normal contact and frictional contact is combined with a semismooth Newton/primal‐dual active‐set procedure to calculate deformations and openings in the model structures. This algorithm is then coupled with a novel adaptive multi‐scale technique involving a macroscopic scale, which is the size of the masonry structure, and a mesoscopic scale, which is the size of the constituents (bricks, stone‐blocks), to predict appearance of dislocations and stress distribution in large‐scale masonry structures. Comparisons of the numerical results with data from experimental tests and from practical observations illustrate the predictive capability of the multi‐scale algorithm. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.